DANISH climber Michael Rasmussen won stage eight of the Tour de France and took the yellow jersey from Germany's Linus Gerdemann, after a brutal day's racing in the Alps.

The peloton was all but decimated by three first category climbs on the 165 kilometres from Le Grand Bornand to Tignes and on the final climb the wafer-thin Dane escaped from the leading group to win by 2:36 from Spain's Iban Mayo.

By finishing over five minutes ahead of Gerdemann, Rasmussen also took the overall lead, but had T-Mobile's Michael Rogers not crashed, he could have taken the yellow jersey.

The Australian was the race leader on the road and riding in Rasmussen's group, when he crashed on a descent with 54 kilometres left and dislocated his shoulder, forcing him to abandon.

His compatriot Robbie McEwen, winner of the stage to Canterbury, finished outside the time limit and was eliminated, while Britain's Mark Cavendish abandoned.

Amidst the carnage, former race favourite Alexandre Vinokourov lived to fight another day. He lost over four minutes to Rasmussen, but can now use the rest day to recuperate from the injuries he sustained in the first week and could yet haul back the deficit in the time trials.

Rasmussen leads Gerdemann by 43 seconds and Mayo by 2:43.